Local Music News

New Tame Impala Due Mid-2012: ‘It’s Got Lots Of Synths’

It’s been two years since Tame Impala’s all-conquering Innerspeaker – it topped our CriticsandReaders polls for 2010 – but according to 21-year-old drummer Jay Watson its follow-up may not be far off.

Speaking to M+N ahead of the release of Beard Wives Denim – the fourth album for his “other” band Pond – Watson said he was hoping for a new Tame Impala release in “the middle of the year”. He also backed-up claims by frontman Kevin Parker that the new material was heavily synth-based and a “major departure” from Innerspeaker. “It’s got lots of synths on it,” Watson told M+N, “but it’s got lots of everything on it. It’s got all the sort of stuff that was on the first one and a whole lot more.”

While he’s not allowed to divulge too many details about the record – “It’s Kevin’s baby,” he said – Watson is a fan of the new direction. “I really like the new Tame album ... [It] has pretty unique sort of sounds.”

Watson also spoke about the logistics of juggling several prolific outfits spawned out of the same Perth sharehouse including Tame Impala, Pond, Allbrook/Avery and Gum. “We do Pond in stints when we have time together off, but in all the other bands the music is made by [the respective artists] at home or on computers. So there’s a lot more time than it seems to have lots of bands.”

Beard Wives Denim by Pond will be out on March 2 through Sydney label Modular, who signed the band in late 2011. It was recorded over two weeks in a ramshackle farmhouse in Western Australia.